


Tell It To My Heart

by justahappylittletree



Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: 80's Music, Dancing, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:52:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29556603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justahappylittletree/pseuds/justahappylittletree
Summary: It's a rainy day in Winden.What else can Charlotte and Peter do but put on the radio and have fun?
Relationships: Charlotte Doppler & H.G. Tannhaus, Charlotte Doppler/Peter Doppler
Comments: 11
Kudos: 6
Collections: Doppler-Tannhaus Collection





	Tell It To My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally just 80's Charlotte and Peter being dorks. And another excuse to include 80's music in my fics.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> :)

It's autumn in Winden and that means it's getting colder outside. That isn't a problem for Charlotte - she has her good coat and hat and even a scarf and mittens that Grandpa lovingly knitted her, to keep warm. It's also getting dark earlier in the evenings, the shadows swallowing Winden whole like it was never there to begin with, but Charlotte tries not to think about that too much. She doesn't need to worry about being out in the forest when it's dark - she has a torch and knows how to kick someone where it will hurt most. She can run fast and shout loud enough if she really needs to. 

Of course, there was an inkling in the back of her mind, a small flicker of memory of Mads Nielsen and his disappearance but Charlotte knows the forest like the back of her hand - and she also has Peter, he tags along and reads his books while Charlotte draws her birds at her favourite spot in the forest. They do this most days. He makes for good company and she is grateful for him being there.

They're dating. It's a funny thing really. Charlotte still gets a silly rush of happiness when she thinks about it. 

She told Peter she liked him three weeks ago. After she gave him back his Nena tape and he was walking her back to the shop, Charlotte figured that she didn't have much to lose. If he turned her down, they could still be friends right?

So they had reached Grandpa's shop and Charlotte had said it. _I think I like you, Peter. But I understand if you don't feel the same way. I just want you to know that I have feelings for you._ It had come out stiff and short and not as romantic as she had hoped but Peter didn't seem to mind much. He said he liked her too, and maybe they could try dating? Charlotte had felt like melting on the spot. He felt the same! 

They both agreed to take it slowly. So far, they haven't done much. Not that Charlotte minds, she likes things the way they are. Slow doesn't mean bad. It was windy last week and Peter used that as an excuse to hold Charlotte's hand the whole time they were in the forest. _If we hold hands then we won't get blown away,_ he had said. She was thrilled. They hold hands more often now, not at school because that would be embarrassing, but when they're walking in the forest or sitting in the library pretending to study. It does feel nice to be able to reach out and take his hand - it feels like something that is meant to be. Why else do their hands fit so well into one another's?

Grandpa Tannhaus is surprisingly cool about it all, which Charlotte wasn't expecting. He thinks Peter is a nice boy, who seems friendly and caring and who listens intently when Grandpa talks for hours on end about 'space' this and 'time' that and quantum physics that no one understands. Peter is good like that - he cares to spend time with other people to get to know them, unlike Charlotte who prefers to be alone...but his friendliness is rubbing off on her. She actually says hello to kids from school when she sees them on the street. Maybe this dating nonsense is actually good for her, in all of it's fluffy awkwardness.

*

Today it is raining. The sound of raindrops going _plunk, plunk_ off the roof is almost deafening, even from downstairs in the shop.

Grandpa has the 'closed for lunch' sign up against the window. He's gone to take a nap. He takes naps more often recently but he says it's just the autumn cold getting to his bones. He jokes that if he could control time, he would find a way to stay younger for longer. That way his knees wouldn't be at him all the time. That way there wouldn't be any pain. He never says what pain, but Charlotte knows what he's talking about. He's also taken the photo of his son, his daughter in law and the real Charlotte away to his room. Charlotte suspects he goes up to nap just so he can be alone with the picture. She isn't entirely sure what to make of that.

"So, what do we do now?" 

Charlotte and Peter are sitting in the shop downstairs, staring out the window at the abysmal rain. He barely got there on time, just before the clouds burst, otherwise he would be dripping water all over the shop floor. 

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asks although she knows what he means.

Peter shrugs, "The rain. We can't go to the forest today or we'll get pneumonia." 

He looks handsome, in his jeans and his coat, with his hair brushed to one side. Charlotte squirms in her seat and wonders if she is blushing.

"Well, I guess there's nothing to do. You'll have to stay here until it stops raining...I don't want you to get pneumonia." She adds. He smiles. His teeth are so bright and perfectly straight. Maybe Peter could do modelling in those fashion magazines that Katharina reads, if he wasn't stuck here in Winden that is.

"Do you have a radio down here?" Peter asks. He loves to listen to music, no matter what it is, even if it's terrible. He's good like that. And besides, it seems like a good way to pass the time.

"I'll get the wireless from my room," Charlotte stands up and heads to the stairs, "Help yourself to the cookies in the back, I made them all myself!" 

Cookies.  
The things you do for love.

*

Peter is fiddling with the dials and the buttons on the wireless while it crackles and hisses static sound. He shakes his head, "It must be the bad weather. I can't tune in anywhere."

Charlotte is busy thinking about the way his lips pouted when he was concentrating and the way his hair is falling out of place a little. It makes her feel all warm inside-

"Want another cookie?" She says, holding out the tin full of her homemade cookies. She spent all of yesterday afternoon baking them, letting Grandpa steal a few before packing them away. She had been planning on bringing them with her to the forest but the rain got in the way of that too.

"Sure," Peter helps himself to another one, "I'll have to get your recipe, these are delicious." He grins that grin, the one that can blind around here. A grin worthy of the ages. Winden has never seen such genuine joy.

"Shit! Yes!" Peter exclaims. The radio has picked up. It's playing something upbeat. Peter claps his hands together, "Finally!"

"Don't turn it up too loud, I don't want to wake up Grandpa-" Charlotte begins but breaks out in a laugh.

Peter is dancing in earnest. Or more...shuffling enthusiastically. He's pumping his arms in the air and singing along.

Charlotte watches, transfixed.

Peter's hair is falling out of place, as he nods his head, like he's in a trance. His eyes are shut and he is mouthing the words to a song Charlotte has never heard before. It's synth-filled and bright and sounds like something Katharina would enjoy. Peter moves effortlessly, like he's been taken over.

He's cute, Charlotte thinks, he really is.

Her face is stuck in a dreamy sort of smile as she watches him, the tin of cookies is still in her frozen hands. It's glorious - who knew someone could have so much fun around here? He really is one of a kind-

"Charlotte! Come on!" Peter is saying.

She shakes her head, "I don't dance-"

"Not even for me? It's getting to the good part!" His blinding, earnest smile.

Charlotte sighs. The things you do for love, right?

She puts the cookies down and steps forward. He cheers and takes her hand and they dance.

Or more like they flail gracelessly and wave their arms around and nod their heads in time with the beat.

Charlotte knows she looks ridiculous and stiff and clumsy but she's laughing. She's laughing and enjoying herself. Peter is spinning in circles like he belongs at the Bolshoi ballet. He isn't afraid to have fun. She loves him for that.

It still is raining outside but they don't care. They dance until their feet hurt. Winden has never seen such spontaneous laughter. Peter's hair is a mess. His cheeks are flushed. Charlotte is panting, all this dancing is tiring even if it is the most free she has been in a long time. 

They aren't finished yet. There's one more song left in them or maybe more. Charlotte takes Peter's hand, admiring the way they fit just right and how wonderful a thing it is, and they dance together for a long time until Grandpa Tannhaus comes downstairs to ask what all the noise is about.

They're both blushing furiously, hands still clasped together, laughing at nothing in particular.

Grandpa softens a little. Kids these days, he thinks to himself.

Peter and Charlotte half-dance, half-flail into the evening and the Tannhaus shop fills with more love and life than it has in years.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is named after [Tell It To My Heart by Taylor Dayne](https://youtu.be/OtXIsUjDOk8), which I guess is the song I had in mind writing it. (It was No.1 on the charts in October 1987 so that worked out well lol!)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
